Deborah Turness will be the first woman president of a network television news division in the United States

NBC News has
chosen a British woman as its new chief, making her the first ever female president of a network television news division in U.S. history.

Deborah Turness, currently head of Britain’s ITV News, will succeed Steve
Capus who stepped down from the position in February after nearly eight years in the job.

Turness faces a number of key challenges, in particular attempting to turn around breakfast
show 'Today' which has fallen behind ABC’s 'Good Morning America' after a
historic 16-year run in first place.

The program's troubles have resulting in the loss of tens of
millions of dollars in advertising revenue, reports the New York Times.

NBC News also faces the same
ratings difficulties as other television networks as well as competition on the internet.

The channel has also announced that it is axing 'Rock Center With Brian Williams' due to disappointing ratings, just 14 months after it launched in a blitz of publicity hype.

The show launched last March as a primetime news magazine and despite securing several high-profile interviews during the 2012 election cycle and winning an Emmy for its interview with Jerry Sandusky, it failed to establish itself with an widespread audience.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

After starting on Monday nights, it was shuffled around the schedule moving to Wednesday, then Thursday and was then moved to Friday earlier this year, where ratings averaged little more than 4 million viewers.

NBC Universal News Group chairman Patricia Fili-Krushel announced on Friday that the show will end on June 21.

Just over a year after it launched in a blitz of publicity hype, NBC has announced it is axing 'Rock Center With Brian Williams' due to disappointing ratings

‘While we’re disappointed with the news, we are very proud of the hard work that the "Rock Center" team put into the program each week,' said Fili-Krushel.

‘Everyone gave their all to bring the most interesting stories to our viewers.’

Williams will continue to host NBC Nightly News on weeknights, it is the highest-rated evening newscast of any of the major networks.

ITV
and NBC News have had a content-sharing relationship for several years;
NBC sometimes televises reports from ITV correspondents in Africa and
the Middle East.

NBC
News, founded in 1940, was the nation’s first producer of television
news; it was joined later by ABC and CBS. The news division has had nine
presidents in the 73 years since its founding.

Former President of NBC News Steve Capus, left, stepped down in February after a tough year with the 'Today' show